Mr Lindens Library
by XxfirewolfxX
Summary: A story based on the picture created by Harris Burdick. Annabelle Crowset was a reader, but one day when she picks up a book, she finds it's more trouble then it's worth. A series of events follow the reading of the book, and what happenes affects her for


Annabelle Crowset was a tall, slender, 12 year old girl

Annabelle Crowset was a tall, slender, 12 year old girl. Her long blonde hair glistened as she tossed it over her shoulder to brush it. Her magnificent green eyes sparkled as the sun's dazzling rays were reflected by the mirror in front of her in to them. She had dimples on her rosy cheeks and had high cheek bones. Her lips were soft and the fairest color of pink. She seemed to glide across the room out into the hall. She patted down the stairs to find a delicious smelling breakfast at the table. She smiled to herself because her mom had taken the time to make her breakfast before she left for work. She sat down and looked at the scrumptious meal in front of her; she had 2 pieces of toast, 1 pancake, and an orange. The glass beside her plate was filled with murky brown liquid undoubtedly chocolate milk. She took her time to really take in the taste of her food as she ate. When she was done she got on her black and blue tennis shoes and grabbed her back pack off the chair beside the coat closet. She crossed her front yard and then crossed the street and climbed aboard the bus awaiting her. She sat down be side her best friend Leslie who greeted her warmly. Leslie moved over a little bit so that there was room for Annabelle's book bag. They talked all the way to school. They stepped off the bus and on to the side walk when the bus got to the school. They went their separate ways because they didn't have the same home room class. Annabelle went to Her Home room in Mr.Flatroyer's room. Leslie went to her home room in Mrs. Lolendeger's room. They then went to all the same classes as each other: Language Arts, math, science, American History, and lastly home Ec.

They then went home and Annabelle got off at her stop. She then crossed the street and then cut across her front yard. She opened the door to her house and took off her shoes. She then sat her book bag on the chair beside the closet.

"Mom, I'm home!" she shouted into her echoing house.

She waited a little bit for a response but heard nothing.

"Mom, are you here??" she asked with a hint of confusion in her voice.

She still heard nothing no matter how long she waited. She got a piece of paper and a pen and wrote her mom a note.

"Dear Mom,

I have gone to Mr. Linden's Library for a bit and then I'm going over to Leslie's to do my homework and help her study for the big Spanish test. I will be back in time for dinner I promise.

Love,

Annabelle"

When she finished the note she went into the kitchen and put the letter up on the fridge with her special note magnet so her mom knew where to look for an explanation to where her daughter was, hopefully her mom would come home.

But after she had put the note up she noticed a piece of paper on the floor. She picked it up and read it aloud.

"**H**ey **E**ric **L**isten **P**lease, **M**y **E**lephant **M**et Orange **M**ice**!!**" she was puzzled. I wonder what this means and why there are underlined letters and some are not underlined she thought but she didn't take it too seriously. She went over to Mr. Linden's Library to get a good book to read in her free time. When she got there she opened the huge swinging doors and stepped inside. She walked over to the front desk and asked the Librarian whom she knew very well his name was Mr. Linden.

"Hey Mr. Linden what have you got for me today?" she asked for he always reserved thrilling books just for her.

"Well the only book I have at my desk is one I had to get off the shelves because it is dangerous so I'm sorry to say that you'll have to find a book the old fashioned way." Mr. Linden replied.

"Darn!!" Annabelle said at this disappointing news. She walked away after thanking Mr. Linden for his help to go find a book. After looking for awhile Annabelle realized that she couldn't find a book that really interested her. She went back over to Mr. Linden's desk.

"May I see that book you have?" she asked.

"Oh my dear why would you want to do a thing like that? The last time some one checked this book out they said something indescribable happened but they wouldn't tell me what it was." Mr. Linden said.

"I'm just curious, I guess?" she replied.

"Well I suppose so but only of you're really careful" he said.

"Thanks!" Annabelle said as Mr. Linden handed her the book.

It was bound in worn black leather. It had a scarlet strap wrapped around it.

"Hmm??" Annabelle said in a puzzled voice.

She handed Mr. Linden her library card and checked the book out. She went over to Leslie's house staring at the book the whole way.

When she got there Leslie examined the book closely.

"Um?? I really don't know what it's called if there's no title on it." Leslie said.

"Have you read any of it yet?" Leslie asked.

"No, I've been so absorbed in trying to figure out its title that I haven't read it yet." Annabelle responded.

"Well maybe you should start." replied Leslie obviously.

"Yeah, I guess I will." Answered Annabelle.

So Annabelle started reading the mysterious book.

"Hmm??" Annabelle said.

"What?" Leslie replied.

"This book is a really good book so far but Mr. Linden said it was dangerous. I wonder why?" Annabelle spoke with a note of confusion in her voice.

With no reply from Leslie she kept on reading with no clue what would happen in her carelessness with her reading of the book.

She enjoyed the mysterious no-name book greatly. It was about a warrior girl who was under attack by a vicious plant that her mother had bought at a mysterious stand on the side of the road.

"Listen to this Leslie." Annabelle said as she began to read a passage of the book aloud.

"And so." She began.

"Marie stood in the middle of the room and said the magic words." She continued with a really story-book tone.

"Asha boo asha re you know what to make me…A warrior!" Annabelle exclaimed finishing her sentence.

"And with that a fierce wind starting blowing in her room. When the wind had died down it revealed a beautiful girl. It was still Marie but she was a warrior. She wore a short cougar fur dress with a snow leopard trimming around the bottom and the cuffs of the sleeves. Her hair short brown hair was tied up with the soft inside of a bamboo tree. She was a magnificent site and you're eye's couldn't help to be drawn to two things; the sling on her back held a bow and um-teen arrows. You're eye's were also drawn to the long gold sheath on her hip which held a massive sword." Annabelle said finishing her paragraph.

"WOAH!!" Leslie exclaimed.

"I sure wish I knew who wrote that I want more books by whoever it is." She added.

"All it says is mister E." Annabelle told her.

"Oh my gosh!!" Leslie said.

"What??" Annabelle asked.

"Mister E!! Don't you get it Mystery!!" Leslie burst out.

"You're right." Annabelle said.

"Wonder who he or she could be??" Leslie asked.

"Well, even though it's interesting I think we should start studying for the Spanish test." Annabelle said with a slight smile.

"Yeah we better otherwise I'll fail and I'll have to go to Summer school." Leslie said with a twang of embarrassment in her voice.

After they had finished studying Annabelle bid Leslie a warm farewell and left for her house.

When she got home she expected a warm dinner on the table and her mom giving her a big hug and a kiss on the top of her head.

"Mom what's for dinner I'm starving!" Annabelle said coolly.

She heard no reply just has she had not heard anything before she left. She went into the kitchen expecting at least a note under the special note magnet. But all that was there was the same note she had wrote to her mom in explanation to where she was. She looked over at the counter to see if there was a note there but again there was only the mysterious note she had found before.

"I don't think there are any elephants or orange mice around here so what could it mean?" Annabelle asked herself.

She thought and thought and thought about the note but she just couldn't make any sense out of it. She was starting to get pretty creeped out and lonely so she went over to Leslie's again. Leslie greeted her and listened to what was happening in Annabelle's life.

"Can I stay here tonight" Annabelle asked Leslie.

"Yeah it sound's pretty tough at you're house so you're defiantly welcome to stay here." Leslie replied soothingly.

"Thanks." Annabelle said.

So the girls went to sleep their heads full of confusing details about the odd book.

When they awoke Annabelle went home because she figured wherever here mom was she would be back by now. But when she got home it was only to find her big empty house. She fixed herself some breakfast and ate it quickly. When she was done she ran up to her room with the mysterious book clutched tightly in her hands. She locked the door and went over to her bed. She laid down and started reading until she fell asleep.

When she woke up she gasped for there was a smooth green vine climbing out of the book that she left wide open. She jumped out of bed and ran for the door. She unlocked it but it still wouldn't open when she tugged and pulled at it. She tried to pull up the window but it wouldn't budge either. She tried as many different way's of escape as she could think of and repeated some of the ways. She had one last desperate attempt but she thought it was foolish to even try but she had to.

"Asha boo asha re you know what to make me…A warrior!!" Annabelle said as strongly as she had read it to Leslie.

She closed her eyes and held her breath. She was completely shocked at what she felt. She felt her hair being whipped around head as a strong wind was blowing. She felt a light breeze slither up her legs and wrap itself around her body so tightly that it felt like invisible bands were squeezing her so much that she could not breathe. Then the invisible bands seemed to break and Annabelle could breathe again. She opened her eyes and released her breath gaping she hurried over to her mirror to examine her appearance. She couldn't believe her eye's when she looked into the mirror. She was wearing a small cougar fur dress with snow leopard fur around the cuffs of the sleeves and on the bottom trimming. She looked just like Marie did in the book she read. Her hair was different though the same all at the same time. Her long blonde hair was tied up in a pony-tail with a buckskin strap. On her hip, just like Marie, hung a long gold sheath holding a massive sword. Over her shoulder was a sling with um-teen arrows in it.

"I look just like Marie except I have blonde hair and she had brown!" exclaimed Annabelle.

She went over to the book which still had more and more green vines crawling out of it. She drew the sword from her sheath and slowly turned it around and around examining her reflection in the smooth clean blade. She slowly raised her blade and let it fall with her hand still gripped tightly around the handle. Then the plant shrieked, shriveled up and then disappeared. She closed the book and breathed a heavy sigh. She went over to the door and turned the knob. It opened and she ran out of her room, down the stairs, and out the door. She ran down the street to Leslie's house with the book tucked tightly under her arm.

She ran up the path and leading to Leslie's door and knocked rapidly. Leslie answered it and dropped her cheerful expression immediately.

"May I help you?" asked Leslie as politely as she could.

"Leslie it's me Annabelle." Annabelle responded.

"I'm sorry you must be at the wrong house." Leslie said.

"No, it's really me." Annabelle said harshly.

"In 2nd grade you tried to climb up the big climbing wall in gym and threw-up all over you're bale team." Annabelle added.

"And what about the time in the 4th grade at my house when you tried to get that egg from the bluebirds nest and the momma bluebird came swooping down out of a tree and started attacking you." She added again.

"How could you know that I only told…?" She paused for a little bit and then asked, "Annabelle??"

"Yes" Annabelle replied.

Leslie stood there for a little while longer and then gestured for Annabelle to come in. Annabelle hurried in and shut the door behind her and locked it.

"One second I need to find the magic words to change me back." Annabelle said quickly turning the pages of the book.

"Ah, here we go." She said.

"Lara roo lara rack come on wind change me back!!" She shouted at nothing in particular.

At the moment she finished another wind started blowing. She felt her long hair flop down on to the back of her neck and on to her back as well. She felt her leg's being covered up and her arm's were covered up too. There were only 2 thing's different about her when the wind stopped. She was wearing black gloves made of black bear fur. She also wore a necklace that she wasn't wearing before. Multiple alligator teeth were strew across a mouse tail chain. She tried to get it off but it wouldn't come off. Every time she took her gloves off another pair was always there.

"I guess this is a symbol of my warriorisum." Annabelle said glumly.

"Annabelle why were you a jungle girl?" Leslie asked puzzled.

"Ya know that book I got from Mr. Linden's Library?" Annabelle asked.

"Yeah, of course I do, how could I not remember?" Leslie said.

"Well, a smooth green vine started like oozing out of it or somthin'." Annabelle said.

"WOW!" said Leslie said jubilantly.

"Yeah I know….And I wasn't a jungle girl I was a warrior." Annabelle corrected her.

The girls talked for a little while and were just being silly girls.

Then Annabelle went home hoping she would see her mom at last. But again her mom wasn't home. Annabelle studied the mysterious note she had found two days before. She decided to devote some time to trying to find out who wrote the note and what it meant. She spent several hours trying to decode the mysterious message. She finally discovered what it meant after technique after technique. This is how she did it… She took all the underlined letters and put them together and got this… **HELPMEMOM!!**… Then she broke that one big word up in to three smaller words and this is her final answer **HELP ME MOM! **

"Oh my gosh!!" Annabelle gasped.

"Mom's in trouble!!" she said tears falling down her flushed cheeks. She dropped the note to the floor and stood there frozen. Then all of a sudden she dropped to the floor with her face in her hands sobbing. Just then the doorbell rang. She calmed herself and wiped away her tears and answered the door. When she opened it though there was no one there. She went to close the door but just as she started closing it she saw an envelope on the ground. She bent over and picked it up and opened it up. Inside was another mysterious note. It had underlined letters and not underlined letters. It said something that made Annabelle look as though she had just sucked on a lemon. She shut the door and went back into the kitchen. She read the note aloud just as she had the other note.

"**I**n **M**ay **I**sabelle's **N**ose **T**ickles. **H**enry's **E**ar's **O**ddly **L**oop. **D**oug **W**ears **E**armuffs. **R**achel **E**nvies **H**olly's **O**lder **U**gly **S**auce **E**villy- **M**olly's **O**lder **M**ilk." Annabelle said sobbingly.

She used the same technique as she did with the other note and got one big word at first it was…**IMINTHEOLDWAREHOUSEMOM** it took her longer to break up this word than the other one but she finally got this… **IM IN THE OLD WAREHOUSE MOM.**

"The old wearhouse is just a few blocks from here. That's where they must be holding mom." She said with a slight sob.

She was worried beyond doubt that this was a mystery that would need both Annabelle and Leslie to solve.

She grabbed the two notes and burst out the door down to Leslie's house. She knocked ferociously on the door.

"Leslie, look at these notes. You may think there strange but their in a secret code and I decoded them both. This one" said Annabelle pointing at the first note she received,

"Say's help me mom and this one" Annabelle indicated the second note she had received,

"Say's I'm in the old wearhouse." Annabelle said.

"We have to go down to the old wearhouse to get my mom." Annabelle added.

"Well, we better not dawdle their going to demolish the old wearhouse in" Leslie looked at her watch, "4 and a ½ hours!!" Leslie said hurriedly.

The girls ran faster then they had ever ran before down to the old wearhouse. The bulldozers were already parked outside of the old run-down building. They slowly crept up to the building and slipped through the door into the building with caution. They began the hunt for Annabelle's lost mother.

After a little while of searching they came across a piece of paper. It was a message but not one in a code one in neatly typed, plain, easy to read, and understandable words.

It said "I have you're mother and I warn you if you don't give me the book you're mother will be dead."

The girls didn't speak but Annabelle felt the inside pocket where she had safely hidden the book before they left Leslie's house. Just then they heard a loud faint scream. The girls ran towards the scream to find Annabelle's mother tied to a wooden chair. The girls rushed over to her and began to untie the many knots. Annabelle noticed a black swivel chair a little ways in front of them. The chair slowly began to turn around as Annabelle held her breathe.

There sat a tall slender young man smiling so evilly that Annabelle thought if he starred at a carton of milk it would curdle.

"Give me the book or you're mother gets it." The man said sternly.

"How did you know I had the book?" Annabelle asked.

"The book wasn't on the shelf at the library when I looked and I knew by spying on the librarian that he reserved special books for you and only you and the only book he had at his desk at the time was _**THAT **_book. So I saw you're mother leaving work, I knew she was you're mother because of her name tag, so I grabbed her, made her write a note that would throw you off track, and brought her back here." The man said as though he was a genius.

"But know it's my turn to ask a question." He said.

"How did you find her?" He added.

"We just located the most deserted building around and that was this wear house, so we came here." Annabelle invented wildly.

"Well" the man said.

"If you don't give me that book I will kill you're mother with something, you can not argue with this, **VERY** **VERY** **PAINFUL" **the man said with a hint of an evil smirk. Leslie had just finished untying all the knots when Annabelle turned on the spot ran forward grabbed one of Leslie's hand and one of her mother's hands and ran to the door. To their horror the door was locked.

"Guess you'll have to find another way out." The man chuckled.

"To bad there is no other way out." He added with an evil smirk.

Annabelle gave a squawk of protest at this piece of information. Annabelle was trying not to panic. She franticly looked around the gigantic building for another way out. Then she saw, dangling from the mans belt loop, a key ring with an assortment of keys on it. Annabelle spoke to the man with as strong of a voice she could manage.

"O.K." she said.

"If we give you the book you'll let us go?" she asked.

"Yes" the man replied stiffly.

Annabelle inched forward with her hand in her pocket. She was only a few inches away from the man now and she could see a key on the key ring labeled: WARE HOUSE. Annabelle took her hand out of her pocket and before the man could react she pulled the key ring free from the mans belt. She found the key labeled ware house and dashed towards the door. She jammed the key forcefully into the lock and unlocked the door. The man started coming towards them at a slow but steady pace. Annabelle grabbed Leslie and her mom by the arms and flung the door open. They ran out the door and the man gave chase. They ran forever or so it seemed like it to Annabelle. Finally the man tripped over an un-even block in the side walk. The girls and Annabelle's mom ran faster until they reached Leslie's house. They bolted up the path and wrenched open the door. They hurried in to the house and slammed the door behind them. Then they locked the door and put heavy objects in the way of the doors path so it could not be opened. Everyone clambered into the living room and sat down. They all breathed heavily as the hearts were still racing at an excelling rate. The next day Annabelle and her mom went home. They ate like pigs and went to bed. They knew they would never see the man again…Or

so they hoped.

A few days passed without any problems or notes. They lived their life as normally as before any of this ever happened. But one day Annabelle's mother started acting strange. After a few days of Annabelle's mother's strange behavior Annabelle's mother collapsed to the ground…dead. The girls found a sticker on the back of Annabelle's mother's foot. It was wired with all kinds of electric circuitry and had electrocuted Annabelle's mother to death. All Annabelle could think of was Mr. Linden and his warning of danger in the book.

_**He had warned her about the book.**_

_**But now it was too late.**_


End file.
